Hold Congress Accountable

Knowledge is power. It makes sure people understand what is happening to their country, and how they can make a difference. FreedomWorks University will give you the tools to understand economics, the workings of government, the history of the American legal system, and the most important debates facing our nation today. Enroll in FreedomWorks University today!

Key Vote

Key Vote NO on Any CR That Funds ObamaCare

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to vote NO on the upcoming Continuing Resolution if it contains further funding for ObamaCare. FreedomWorks will score against any Continuing Resolution that contains funding for the further implementation or enforcement of ObamaCare, and may score any procedural vote towards that end.

With the so-called Affordable Care Act set to take full effect in just a few short months, it has become perfectly clear that the law is not ready for prime time, even aside from its inherent shortcomings. Multiple states are having difficulty getting their health insurance exchanges ready to enroll customers by October 1st. Many of the nation’s largest insurance companies are withholding participation in these exchanges as well, thus decreasing the competition that would supposedly keep prices down. And, of course, the administration has arbitrarily (and possibly illegally) conceded that major portions of the law cannot be enforced for at least a year, greatly increasing the likelihood of massive subsidy fraud and identity theft in the government exchanges.

These delays, aside from proving that the law is not ready, are also causing ObamaCare’s enforcement to become even more flagrantly unfair. Having already granted waivers to an assortment of well-connected companies and organizations, the administration has granted big business a one-year stay on the employer mandate, while still planning to enforce the mandate that individuals must purchase insurance or face a fine.

Besides being unfair and unready, the Affordable Care Act is also unaffordable, both for many of those who are being forced to purchase insurance and for country as a whole. Many individuals in most states will see their insurance premiums increase sharply, and this is particularly true for young adults, who will bear much of the financial burden of supporting the flood of older, less healthy individuals into the insurance rolls. For conservatives in Congress who claim to be for reducing the federal government’s out-of-control spending, defunding ObamaCare would also be a major step towards that goal, saving tens of billions of dollars in 2014 alone.

For all of these reasons, it is clear that ObamaCare’s implementation, and its costly entitlement spending, must be halted before its disastrous debut in 2014. Congress has voted dozens of times to repeal, defund, and dismantle ObamaCare in bills that had no chance to pass, but has failed for more than three years to take a decisive stand on a must-pass bill. The Continuing Resolution provides Republicans with their best, and perhaps last, chance to do the job they were sent to Washington to do – to stop the government’s takeover of health care.

I urge you to call your representative and ask him or her to vote NO on any upcoming Continuing Resolution that contains further funding for ObamaCare. We will count their vote, and potentially any procedural votes, as KEY VOTEs when calculating FreedomWorks’ Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2013. The Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom.

Downloads

The fear of blame for a government shutdown tormenting GOP leaders is greatly exaggerated. The problem is that career politicians like House Speaker John Boehner don't get that point. Obama is arguably a brilliant political tactician, but POTUS no longer enjoys the roaring grassroots popularity he had in '08, and even 2012, despite the happy-chat claims of Obama-lackeys Chris Hollander and Dick Durbin. His popularity is in fact waning, dipping in some polls as low as the high 30-percentile range on domestic issues. So now is not the time for Republicans, vis-a-vis House Speaker Boehner, to be pulling their punches.

Forget 1995 and Newt Gingrich. Republicans then faced off against a much more formidable foe in Bill Clinton, who, like him or not, commanded more bipartisan respect in one day than Obama could claim after 5-years in office. Obama's once gold-standard political currency is now nearly bankrupt, even within the lunatic left wing fringe element.

But lame duck status alone can hardly squelch the holy grail of the Obama doctrine, to steer America toward Socialism. In fact, be warned; like a trapped fox, Obama is more dangerous than ever. The embattled second term president suffers no illusion of respect for America's 3-year majority-cry against the ACA, if he ever did. Salvaging of his namesake legislation is all that matters to him now. If enshrining his legacy in the anals of history means destroying the linchpin of our free Republic, something we call "free enterprise", he will do just that if left unchecked.

For these reasons, House Speaker John Boehner must stop his pandering and live up to the GOP's most hallowed principal, defending and preserving the core values of mainstream America. He must abandon that whimpy stand-alone bill to defund, for a continuing resolution bill that literally strips funding of ObamaCare. While as unacceptable among Democrats as a "stand-alone", a CR, even one stripped of ObamaCare funding, would force a Senate vote. More importantly, it would whet the appetite of that chamber's Democrats for negoatiating with House Republicans ahead of that vote.

The consequences for which Boehner hopes, the ACA crumbling under the weight of its own beaurocratic obesity, could indeed happen. As National Review's Bill Kristol said on FOX last week, implosion could indeed weaken ObamaCare. And that, along with the approaching '14 midterms, could serve as a one-two punch to better position next year's congress for repeal of all or parts of this trainwreck legislation. But hoping is not a strategy, and we certainly should not already be vying for a consolation prize. With little time left on the clock, pursuing defunding now is the only game plan left in our arsenal. Are you listening Mr House Speaker?!

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and representative and ask them to support the Repeal Insurance Plans of the Multi-State Program (RIP MSP) Act, S. 2221 and H.R. 4664, introduced by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). The bills would repeal the ObamaCare Multi-State Plan Program, which is a pathway to a public option.

The federal government shutdown at midnight on Saturday because the Senate was not able to pass a spending deal. Both the House and Senate were in session on Saturday and Sunday. Members from both parties in both chambers spent time blaming each other for the shutdown. House and Senate Democrats also spent a lot of time on the floor blaming President Trump.

As Congress nears another deadline this Friday for funding the government, a lot is on the table in terms of what could be included in a deal to increase spending across the board. Whether Congress is forced into a partial government shutdown or it chooses to bunt the issue another few weeks or so with the fourth continuing resolution of this fiscal year, the spending issue will have to be addressed in the near future.

Way back in 2012, the United States Supreme Court, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, issued a landmark ruling that upheld the supposed constitutionality of ObamaCare by justifying the individual mandate as a proper exercise of Congress’s taxing power. This is what allowed ObamaCare to continue to be a drain on our economy and the American taxpayer.